The first three Minneapolis Athletic Club presidents shared several qualities. All were in their forties in 1915, all three were lawyers, all three served as presidents one or more years during World War I, all three were members of the city’s first club—the Minneapolis Club on Second Avenue—and all three were members of several other downtown and country clubs. In 1915, the second MAC president, Charles Rollin Fowler, was also the leader of the Minikahda Club. All three were in the midst of successful personal careers.

George P. Douglas practiced law 10 years then devoted himself to his properties, investments and political affairs. His wife, Bessie Pettit Douglas, was a member of the National Executive Committee of the Democratic Party in 1928, when Al Smith was its presidential candidate.

Charles Rollin Fowler first practiced law with Judge W. K. Kerr and then formed the prominent law firm of Fowler, Carlson, Furber and Johnson. He was a member of the Minnesota Senate and authored laws governing public utilities.

According to the newspaper profile, George Kimball Belden was the president of 17 organizations. He practiced law briefly before entering a business career that included auto dealerships for Ford, Pontiac, and Nash. He was president and principal owner of the Minneapolis Baseball Club and served as Grand Potentate of the Shrine. Earlier he was a football star at the University of Minnesota and the tenth ranking tennis player in the country.

Why then, did these men choose to become so dedicated to the hard work of forming and establishing another club when there were already some good ones in the area? Well, it was not just another club--this was an athletic club.

The three civic leaders knew that Minneapolis was a growing city, rapidly becoming a great one, and they believed it should have an athletic club like those established in Pittsburgh in 1911, Chicago in 1890, Detroit in 1888, Los Angeles in 1880, and New York, the "Mother of Athletic Clubs" in 1868.

So George Douglas, Charles Fowler and George Belden plus the original MAC Board of Directors became the founders of the Minneapolis Athletic Club. And all of the 2,100-plus Resident, Life and Nonresident members registered upon the opening of the club were its charter members.

In the fall of 1912 a man named Charles Henry Genslinger had arrived in Minneapolis from Chicago. A master organizer, his specialty was organizing athletic clubs, most recently in Pittsburgh. He intended to organize one in Minneapolis, too.